Pension Reform

Will Kamala Harris monkey-wrench CA pension reform — again?

I’ve been following California politics obsessively since 1990, and I simply have never seen an editorial like the Los Angeles Times’ piece Friday exhorting Attorney General Kamala Harris to do an ethical and honest job in preparing a ballot statement for

Judge: Pensions can’t be cut, but pay can

John Seiler December 24, 2013

California still is a long way from resolving its pension crisis, in the courts and elsewhere. But here’s an important new development: “SAN JOSE — In a landmark ruling that could help shape city budgets around the state, a judge

Santa Monica police a case study in excessive pay driven from top down

Chris Reed December 10, 2013

Santa Monica is one of the great places to be in the world, not just California. It has incredible weather, often in the mid-70s in August when the San Fernando Valley is baking, lots of great restaurants and a surprising

State finances: LAO’s own report on CalSTRS demolishes LAO’s happy talk

Chris Reed December 4, 2013

I’m still struggling to make sense of Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor’s bizarrely upbeat report last month on state finances that predicted budget surpluses for years to come — but barely mentioned the state’s huge unfunded liabilities for retiree pensions and

Dem Mayors tell Reed to drop pension reform initiative

Katy Grimes November 27, 2013

Many can agree on the need for thoughtful and serious pension reform measures. Yet labor unions, and now Democratic mayors and city and county officials from around the state, have called on San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed to call off

Unreal: CA transit workers permanently protected from pension reductions

Chris Reed September 5, 2013

Californians are used to suffering the consequences from state laws drafted by unions and forced through by their allies/puppets in the state Legislature. But now we see the same phenomenon afflicting the Golden State thanks to a union payoff made

Fossil fuel ‘divestment’ may add to CA pension funding nightmare

Chris Reed August 28, 2013

If any state in America displays more of a need for a consistent commitment to pension “best practices” than California, I’m not aware of it. Some states’ main retirement systems may be in worse shape than the California Public Employees’

Morain auditions to be Skelton successor, part 2

Chris Reed August 26, 2013

Last week, I wrote about Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Morain’s bizarre decision to focus on an alleged tactical error by a California House Republican in his efforts to fight the state’s bullet-train project instead of the infinitely bigger story that

LAT’s Steve Lopez finally figures out life in California

Chris Reed August 25, 2013

For years, I’ve written about the muddled thinking of liberal California pundits when it comes to government spending. I find it amazing how little comprehension there is that every dollar that is spent for unnecessary public employee compensation and every

Long-ago union payoff now haunts CA pension reform

Chris Reed August 15, 2013

In his Tuesday Sac Bee story about the federal government preparing to withhold funds for state construction projects because the 2012 state pension reform violated a “federal mass transit grant rule,” Jon Ortiz got it wrong. It’s not a grant